Books By Members

A Memoir: Linking Five Generations 1880 – 2017Author: Erwin Boschmann

“This is my story. Born in Paraguay, my story, through that of my ancestors, goes back some 500 years to the Ukraine, to Siberia, to Prussia, to Germany, and to Holland. I am blessed to have known and loved my four grandparents. Living in the U.S. all my adult life, I have the enormous privilege of watching my grandchildren grow and mature.

But the clock is ticking and time is moving on. In due time, my grandchildren will become parents, and eventually grandparents. May the soar like eagles, hitch their wagons to the stars but live with the highest values. That will become their story.”

“With an ear for engaging stories and an eye for historical detail., Preheim offers a thought full narrative of Mennonites seeking to be faithful to the call of the gospel in varied contexts and communities. This book is a gift to all who seek a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the Mennonite congregational life, past and present.”
– Steven M Nolt, senior fellow, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College

Breaking New GroundAuthor: Susan Ione-Miller

A History of First Mennonite Church, Indianapolis. Read this amazing story of rural Mennonites in Indianapolis – building and outgrowing two new meeting houses; starting two sister churches; empowering young leaders; calling women pastors; welcoming diversity; addressing controversy; and serving with humility. This innovative congregation on the cutting edge of Mennonite theology continues to share Christ’s love, peace, and reconciliation in its seventh decade.

Evening ChoreAuthor: Shari Wagner

Shari Wagner takes us with her to the far pasture, that borderland where at dusk the known meets the unknown, where details are at once familiar and mysterious. This landscape is both personal and mythological, evoking those invisible connections that Wagner sensed from her extended Mennonite family and acquaintances.

Here is the account of a Mennonite mission doctor tried for a patient’s murder. As this suspenseful, true-life drama unfolds, readers are given access to an ancient, clan-based culture few Americans have experienced in a country recently declared by the United Nations as a humanitarian crisis “worse than Darfur.”

When Dr. Gerald L. Miller left his Markle, Indiana, family practice to respond to an urgent need for a doctor at the Jamama Hospital, he faced the challenge of understanding an Islamic culture much different from his own and of dealing with medical situations unlike any he had encountered: village children attacked by a mad dog, a psychotic woman chained to a stake, infants dead from malaria, banana workers bitten by venomous snakes. Not only did Miller respond readily and with compassion, he also acted with ingenuity, discovering, for example, that the malaria organism was crossing the placental barrier.

Throughout a year of challenges, Dr. Miller had his Mennonite faith and the abiding support of Somali hospital staff and mission personnel to sustain him. Readers will be moved by the climax of this drama, a surprising outcome involving the actions of a single Somali family.

Paraguay – A Tour GuideAuthor: Erwin Boschmann

This colorful book on PARAGUAY is the first comprehensive English language tour guide published about this small, land-locked country. The first three chapters on Basics, Information on Getting There, and Information While Being There provide the nuts and bolts: from the name ‘Paraguay’, to facts and figures, demographics, geography, economy, passports and visas, airlines, clothing, inoculation, health, insurance, customs, going solo vs. group tour, weather, getting around, email, tipping, embassies, to hospitals.

The next three chapters, History, Culture, and Asuncion, describe the Jesuit period, the Triple Alliance War, the Chaco War, politics, music, language and literature, painting, sculpture, carvings, museums, universities, monuments, strolls through Asuncion, proud buildings, memorable restaurants, great lodging, and the Mennonite impact. A Mennonite writer and a painter are also featured. The four chapters on going North, South, East and West of Asuncion explore the countryside, with the chapter on the West detailing the civilizing of the Chaco by the Mennonites.

The final two chapters, Uniquely Paraguay and Oddities explain the name Guarani, nanduti, sopa Paraguaya, yerba mate, algorrobo, mandioca, long life milk, the Southern Cross, and the reversal of periods and commas. The Appendix contains measurement conversion factors, basic Spanish, bibliography, and personal interest stories such as Kornelius Issak, Liese Kaethler, Madame Lynch, and Katharina Warkentin.

Not as the Scribes:
Jesus as a Model for Prophetic PreachingAuthor: Ryan Ahlgrim

The Gospels tell us that when Jesus preached, the people were “astounded at his teaching, for he taught hem as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). Unlike the scribes, Jesus spoke like a prophet, announcing what God is doing and saying now, and facilitating an encounter with the reign of God.

Most preaching today resembles the teaching of the scribes: explaining the meaning and application of Scripture. But Ahlgrim boldly suggests that pastors and preachers today should speak as Jesus spoke: as prophets speaking for God instead of as scribes talking about God. Using Jesus’ own astonishing preaching methods and themes as a model, Ahlgrim attempts to recover for our time the transforming power of prophetic preaching.